CLANDESTINE

Every Master Mason knows that he must not visit a
clandestine Lodge, not talk Masonically with a clandestinely made Mason, but
not all Master Masons can define clandestinism.

The dictionary (Standard) gives “surreptitious,
underhand” as synonyms for the word, and while these express the Masonic
meaning to some extent, they are not wholly clarifying.

Mackey (History of Freemasonry) states:

“The (Anderson) Constitutions declare, Section 8,
that where a number of Freemasons shall take upon themselves to form a Lodge
without a Grand Master’s Warrant, the regular Lodges are not to countenance
them nor own them are fair brethren, and duly formed. In other words,
Lodge formed without a Warrant from the Grand Master (we now say Grand
Lodge) is “clandestine,” and so a “clandestine Masons” is one made in a
Lodge without a Warrant.”

Even this definition will not wholly serve; many old
Lodges began and worked for a while without a Warrant yet were never
Clandestine. “The Lodge at Fredricksburg” in which Washington was
initiated, had no Warrant or Charter until long after the First President
was made a Mason.

Haywood states of the several terms used to indicate
those whom Masons may not officially converse:

“A “cowan” is a man with unlawful Masonic knowledge;
an “intruder” is one with neither knowledge not secrets, who makes himself
otherwise obnoxious; a “clandestine” is one who has been initiated by
unlawful means, an “irregular” is one who has been initiated by a Lodge
working without authorization.”

An “irregular” Mason is sometimes, unfortunately,
confused with a “clandestine” Mason; “Unfortunately,” because some men are
“irregularly” made Masons even today - usually in all innocence.
George Washington was initiated before he was twenty one years of age;
according to modern ideas, this was an “irregular” making, but there was
never a taint of clandestinism attached to “The Lodge at Fredricksburg.”
North Dakota permits the reception of a petition of a man under age,
although he must be of age when he is initiated; that their law differs from
other laws does not make the North Dakota minor, who receives his degrees
after he is twenty-one, either irregular or clandestine. In a
Jurisdiction in which all the membership must be notified of the degree to
be conferred and upon whom, the Worshipful Master may forget to list one
candidate in his monthly circular; if the unpublished candidate,
regularly elected, is initiated, it is an “irregular” making, and the Grand
Master may well order him “healed” by being reinitiated, but no power could
make such a Mason clandestine.

When a Lodge makes a Mason of one not “freeborn,” not
of a “mature and discrete age” one who is a bondman, in his dotage, a Mason
is made irregularly, but not clandestinely.

When the Mother Grand Lodge separated into two, in
1751, each termed the other clandestine, and this polite name-calling
continued even in this country, between Lodges begun here under authority of
the two rival Grand Lodges in England. The following is from
“Washington’s Home and Fraternal Life” published by the United States
Government:

According to the “Proceedings, Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania, February 3, 1783:” “A petition being preferred to this Grand
Lodge on the 2nd of September last, from several brethren of
Alexandria, in Virginia, for a warrant to hold a Lodge there, which was
ordered to lie over to the next communication, in consequence of Brother
Adam, the proposed Master thereof, being found to possess his knowledge of
Masonry in a clandestine manner, since which the said Brother Adam, having
gone through the several steps of Ancient Masonry in Lodge No.2, under the
Jurisdiction of this R.R. Grand Lodge, further prays that a warrant may now
be granted for the purposes mentioned in said petition. “Ordered, That
the prayer of said petition be complied with, and that the Secretary present
Brother Adam with a warrant to hold a Lodge of Ancient Masons in Alexandria,
in Virginia to be numbered 39. “Brother Robert Adam who was then duly
recommended, and presented in form to the R.W. Grand Master in the chair,
for installation as Master of Lodge No.39, to be held in the borough of
Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia; and was accordingly installed as
such.” “The word ‘clandestine’ falls with unhappy significance upon modern
Masonic ears, but it did not in those days mean quite the same thing as it
does to Masons of this age, Prior to the ‘Lodge of Reconciliation’ and
the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, the two
Grand Bodies of England, the ‘Moderns’ (who were the older) and the
‘Antients’ (who were the younger, schismatic body) each considered the other
‘clandestine.’ Brother Adam’s Mother Lodge is not known, but as he
lived for a time in Annapolis, where a ‘Modern’ Lodge worked, it is probable
it was here that he received the degrees which the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (‘Antinets’) considered ‘clandestine.’
Transition of Masons from Lodges of one obedience to those of the
other was neither infrequent, so that ‘clandestine’ could not have had the
connotation of irregularity and disgrace which it has with Freemasons of
today.”

Today the Masonic world is entirely agreed on what
constitutes a clandestine body, or a clandestine Mason; the one is a Lodge
or Grand Lodge unrecognized by other Grand Lodges, working without right,
authority or legitimate descent; the other is a man “made a Mason” on such a
clandestine body.

More widespread than effective, more annoying than
dangerous, only continental vigilance by Grand Lodges keeps clandestinism
from becoming a real problem to legitimate Masonry. Clandestinism
raises its ugly head periodically in many Grand Jurisdictions, and in some
States it is always more or less of a trouble. Either now, or in the
immediate past, some clandestine Freemasonry had affected Arizona,
California, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West
Virginia and the District of Columbia; a list too long to minimize
altogether by saying that clandestine Masonry is too weak to do much harm
Arizona and California suffer to some extent from clandestine Mexican
bodies. Colorado and adjacent States have had with them for some
thirty years a curious organi-zation known as The American Federation of
Human Rights; with headquarters at Larkspur, Colorado; which is the seat of
“Co-Masonry,” an organization purporting to make Masons of men and women
alike. Missouri has a number of spurious Italian alleged Masonic
organizations, and the “Masonic Chauffeurs’ and Waiters’ Club” with
headquarters in Chicago. In 1929 there was filed in the office of the
Secretary of State of New Jersey a Certificate of Incorporation of “The
Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey,” under which
certificate the incorporators claimed the right to:

“Practice and preserve Ancient Craft Masonry
according to the Ancient Charges, Constitutions and Land Marks of Free
Masonry; to create, organize and supervise subordinate Lodges of Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, granting to them dispensations and charters,
empowering them to confer the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and
Master Mason; and to do all things necessary to carry into effect the
objects and purposes of this incorporation.”

The regular Grand Lodge instituted suit in the
Court of Chancery

against this spurious Grand Lodge with the result that
in 1932 there

was entered a decree restraining and enjoining this
“Grand Lodge of

ancient Free and accepted Masons of New Jersey,” its
officers,

agents, members and employees,

1. From using the name or designation “The
Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey.”

2. From using any name or designation
containing the words “Free and Accepted Masons,” or word “Mason,” or
“Masons,” in conjunction with either or both of the words “Free and
Accepted.”

3. From practicing, or pretending to practice
Ancient Craft Masonry, according to the ancient Charges, Constitutions and
Land Marks of Free Masonry; from creating, organizing or supervising
subordinate Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons in the State of New Jersey,
or pretending to do so; from conferring or pretending to confer the three
degrees of Free Masonry known as Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master
Mason, or any of them.

In New York are now, or have been recently, as many
as fifteen spurious Masonic Organizations.

North Carolina is not now troubled, but twenty years
ago they won a case in court against the Cerneau bodies. Ohio has the
“National Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Free Masons for the United
States of America,” but has been successfully fighting it in the courts.

Pennsylvania has had troubles with spurious Ohio
bodies and some of her own, but her vigilance is such that these do not get
very far in deceiving the public. For instance, in 1927 was heard the
case of Phillips against Johnson. A portion of the opinion in that
case reads:

:This was a proceeding in mandamus instituted by the
realtors to compel the Secretary of the Commonwealth to register certain
emblems and insignia, such registration having been refused by the Secretary
of the Commonwealth. The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most
Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania
and Masonic Jurisdiction Thereunto Belonging and the Pennsylvania Council of
Deliberation were permitted to intervene as defendants, no objection being
raised thereto by the plaintiffs. On the trial of the case a verdict
in favor of the defendants was returned by the Jury. The plaintiffs
moved for a new trial which was refused by the court.”

South Dakota once had an Italian spurious body, but
it has disbanded. Texas has to contend with the clandestine Mexican
bodies. Utah has had some experiences, but her most famous
contribution to the history of clandestine Masonry was the trial of the
notorious McBain and Thompson. That Masonic fraud was there exposed
and the perpetrators sent to jail. M.W. Sam H. Goodwin, Grand
Secretary, writes of this:

“Grand Lodge has not entered the arena against
clandestinism, but a great battle against clandestinism was brought to a
successful conclusion in the Federal Court in Salt Lake City, and the chief
promoters of the Thompson Masonic Fraud (three in number) heard a jury
declare them guilty, on ten counts, of using the U.S. Mails to
defraud.

“Grand Lodge did not get into this, neither did any
other Masonic organization. But Masons furnished the funds which made
the trial possible. It was necessary to send investigators across the
water to look up records in France, and to interview certain important
witnesses in Scotland, and to secure their promise to come over for the
trial. Utah brethren furnished the money for this work, also for the
expenses of the three men to come and return, as the U.S. does not pay to
bring witnesses from outside the United States. “The men engaged in
this fraud were each sentenced to serve two years in Leavenworth and to pay
fines of $5,000.00 each. This destroyed the organization - so far as I
am aware, no fragment of it is left. “The Scottish Bite Bodies
published a book of some 260 pages and an index, giving an accurate and most
interesting account of Thompson’s methods, and of the trial of that case.”

A spurious Grand Lodge of Thompson extraction was,
and perhaps still is, alive in Wyoming.

The District of Columbia has had to contend with
various would-be incorporators who desire to attach themselves to legitimate
Freemasonry, but has always been successful in heading off clandestines who
desire legal status under papers of incorporation. In many States
Prince Hall or other varieties of so-called Negro Masonry is in existence,
but this variety of clandestinism is seldom if ever harmful to regular
Masonry. As a general rule, the legitimate Grand Lodges of the
southern States do not quarrel with the so-called Negro Lodges, although
they are” clandestine. Grand Secretary James M. Clift, of Virginia,
puts the general attitude very clearly in writing about colored Masonry in
the Old Dominion. He says:

“The Negro (Prince Hall) Grand Lodges, organized just
after the war between the States, can hardly be said to be clandestine, as
it in no way interferes with Lodges in Virginia. As a matter of fact,
the then Grand Secretary of Virginia, Dr. John Dove, aided the leading
colored members of this organization in establishing it in Virginia,
believing it would be helpful to Negro citizenship. His text book was
used as their guide for some years. No recognition could be given
them, but so far it appears that Dr. Dove’s conclusions were correct.

Occasionally, however, clandestine Negro Masonry gets
in trouble with regular Grand Lodges. Colorado, in common with many
other States, has for years had colored “Masonic Lodges” which usually give
regular Masons no trouble. A few years ago a colored man there
organized “Masonic Lodges” and a “Grand Lodge of Masons,” which became a
rival of the old colored “Grand Lodge.” These organizations became
involved in litigation in which one sought to restrain the other from use of
a name which in essence was the same as the name of the regular Grand Lodge.
If a decision had been obtained, one of these Negro organizations would have
had the legal right to use the name of the regular Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M.
of Colorado, and the use of the Masonic emblems. The danger lay in the
fact that if such a decision had been rendered, some degree-monger and
organization of spurious “Masonic Lodges” might have obtained control of the
successful colored “Grand Lodge” and converted it into a clandestine Grand
Lodge for white men, and his organization would have been fortified with a
decision of the court that it was entitled to the name of “Grand Lodge of
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons” and the use of the Masonic emblems.

The regular Grand Lodge of Colorado therefore
intervened in the suit. After trial, the District Court issued a writ
of injunction, permanently restraining and enjoining both Negro
organizations and their subordinate Lodges from using the names “Mason,”
“Freemason,” “Masonic” and “Free and Accepted” (together with various other
names), and the name “The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons of Colorado,” and the members from using, displaying and
wearing emblems and insignia of Freemasonry. The decision would be of
value to Colorado in case it should become necessary for the Grand Lodge to
enter into litigation with clandestine Masonic organizations.

In a majority of States legislation has been passed
making it an offense against the law to use the emblems of a fraternal
organization without a right, or to adopt and use the name of a pre-existent
fraternal, charitable, benevolent, humane or other non-profit making
organization. Some of these laws are very elaborate, others are less
specific, but in States where such legislation has been invoked by regular
Masonry against usurpation by clandestine bodies, the courts have upheld, or
are now in the process of upholding the regular and recognized Grand Lodges
of the nation against those who would profit at their expense.
Clandestine Masonry of today is wholly profit-making, begun and carried on
by individuals who have nothing but duplicity to sell to their victims.
Unfortunately, many honest men have been persuaded to pay fees for the
“degrees” of such spurious organizations, in the innocent belief that they
were becoming regular Masons. Some pathetic cases form a part of the
literature of clandestinism. The charity of Masonry, however, is
usually extended to the honest victims of misrepresentation, and such
“Masons” mat apply, and. if they can pass the ballot in a regular Lodge,
their misfor-tune in innocently entering a clandestine body seldom acts as
an objection to their receiving the blessings of genuine Masonry.